Disjointed Kitsch

My oldest is about to graduate high school. All the adages about it doesn’t seem so long ago certainly apply. The road to this point has not been easy but it has been worth it. There were many times that I didn’t believe he would actually make graduation on time with the rest of his class. There have been arguments, fights and punishments over things large and small, over effort (or rather lack there of), grades, and attitude.

It’s not that he’s not a smart young man. He’s very bright (ok, all parents say that) when he applys himself. It’s just that he has a hard time of doing just that. He must have decided that it was worth it and since late in his Junior year he’s applied himself more and I think been pleasantly suprised with the results. His Senior year has actually been quite good. Perhaps he just has Senior-itis since the beginning of 8th grade.

His next level of education is life: job, driving, making his way into the world. Perhaps that’ll involve additional schooling or the military (which he has talked to us about). I want for him what my parents wanted for me: success in whatever you do coupled with a secure and supportive place to return to while spreading the wings.

Since we’re planning an extended vacation to Hawaii to celebrate this event, he won’t be looking for a job right away, and I don’t think it’ll start to seem strange until September when my youngest heads back to school and he doesn’t. I image he’ll live at home for a while and that’s OK with his mother and me. Learning life takes awhile.

This morning I let our 4 year old Boston Terrier Lucy out for her morning business. I typically do this during my morning routine of making coffee, ironing, preparing lunch, etc.. While our yard isn’t completely fenced, Lucy has never really wandered off after her first year with us. She usually does her thing and then sits on the top step waiting to be let in. The entire process takes about 10 minutes. If she has to wait longer than that she goes onto the front porch or under it.

This morning I got distracted by an emergency at work. I was checking my work email from home and found out that our VPN that connects our office to our hosting facility in Watertown, MA was on the fritz and things were not right. After getting the ball rolling on several lines of attack, I realized that I had left Lucy outside for about 15 minutes. No bid deal, I’ll just see if she’s on the porch or under it. I came up empty.

Now Yvette is ticked at me since she figures that leaving Lucy unattended is a “bad idea” in general. I’m also going to be late for work, miss my first meeting and still have to deal with VPN outage issues. This Wednesday is off to a “flying” start.

Yvette heads off in the van while I search the neighborhood on foot. Nobody that’s out and about this morning has seen her. As I’m walking back toward the house, I see Lucy coming up the sidewalk in front of our neighbor’s house. She comes when I whistle but stops when she gets close to me. She figures she’s in trouble and wants to make sure I’m not going to yell at her. I don’t (at least not then) and she follows me into the house.

Case closed. I end up being late for work and missing the first 1/2 of the meeting. The VPN problem, however, is solved before I even leave the house and my team is cleaning up the mess. They are good!

First a wandering hamster and now a wondering dog. Makes you wonder if they are chatting at night.

Several weeks ago our 2nd hamster, Oreo, got loose from his cage and disappeared. Although we put out “have a heart” traps, food, etc.. he was not to be found. We were just at the point of giving up and putting his now empty cage in the basement when he showed up!

Our daughter Hannah was downstairs early Monday morning and heard something rustling around in the small trash can that we keep in the living room. As she moved closer to it to investigate, Oreo stuck his head out. Needless to say we were all very excited over finding him. He was a little ragged from lack of food and water, but otherwise in good shape for being gone for about 3 weeks.

Upon being returned to his cage, he promptly ate the seeds, carrots and crackers that were proffered. He slept most of the day and didn’t even run in his wheel.

Today’s the day. Today’s the day when Yvette gets her wish. Careful what you wish for…

Over the past several years Yvette’s been experiencing a lot of pain and discomfort during her cycle. The OB/GYN she’s had for a number of year kept attributing it to “menopause”, which we both felt was a crock given her multiple eptopic pregnancies, fallopian tube and scar tissue removal. Working with her GP, Yvette hooked up with a GYN that would actually look at the history and symptoms try to find out what was wrong. After a 2-3 month series of Lupron shots, her pain and discomfort was definitely related to her cycle and reproductive organs. After discussing it, Yvette got what she’s been after for the last 5 year: a hysterectomy.

So today, we’re off to Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Keene, NH for the procedure. Even though this is what she’s been after, the anticipation and build up is taking its toll. We’re both a bit apprehensive and worrying about things that we probably shouldn’t, but I guess that’s to be expected.

She’ll be in “overnight” and then come home on Thursday. I’m working at home for the next week or so until she feels she can be on her own again.

Update #1 - Took her to surgery at 10:40 AM after meeting with the surgical team. Procedure will take about 2 hours. I opted to go home since we only live 3 minutes from the hospital. I’ll go back around 12:15 PM or so. Dad called to check in as did Sue. I’ll try and remember to call both back when she gets out.

Update #2 - Got back to waiting area about 12:30 PM. Waited there until 1:10 PM and went back the the recovery area to check on her status. She was out of surgery and in recovery and awake! Evidently I had missed the Dr. by a few minutes. She was groggy and had the expected pain, but was not nauseous since they gave her this scopolamine patch behind the ear. I stayed until 1:50 PM when I left to get Grant from school. After Hannah gets home I’ll head back.

Update #3 - Arived back at hospital at 3:30 PM and they were just moving her to room 252. I had some tea while they got her situated. Not long after I got to her room they gave her a pain shot and she faded fast. Just had time to feed her a few spoons of ice before she drifted off. Left at 5:20 PM to fix dinner for the kids. We will all go back after dinner.